CS120: Resources | Saylor Academy

Topic	Name	Description
	Course Syllabus

© Saylor Academy 2010-2024 except as otherwise noted. Excluding course final exams, content authored by Saylor Academy is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Third-party materials are the copyright of their respective owners and shared under various licenses. See detailed licensing information. Saylor Academy®, Saylor.org®, and Harnessing Technology to Make Education Free® are trade names of the Constitution Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization through which our educational activities are conducted.

Course Introduction

Course Syllabus

Unit 1: Introduction to Bitcoin Technology

1.1: What is Bitcoin?

1.2: P2P Networks

1.3: Ledger Entries

1.4: Intro to Consensus

1.5: Decentralization and Balance of Power

1.6: Open Systems

1.7: Exercise: Look Up a Transaction on a Blockchain Explorer

Study Session Review Video

Unit 1 Assessment

Unit 2: Cryptographic Algorithms

2.1: What is Cryptography?

2.2: Cryptographic Keys

2.3: The Basics of Hashing

2.4: Keys and Transaction Signatures

2.5: Keys and Bitcoin Addresses

2.6: Exercise: Encrypt and Decrypt Data

Study Session Review Video

Unit 2 Assessment

Unit 3: Signatures and Transactions

3.1: What is a Digital Signature?

3.2: Exercise: Sign and Validate Data

3.3: Introduction to Bitcoin Transactions

3.4: How Bitcoin Transactions Use Signatures

Study Session Review Video

Unit 3 Assessment

Unit 4: Hashing and Mining

4.1: What is a Hash?

4.2: Hashing Algorithms

4.3: Exercise: Hash Something

4.4: Hashing and Bitcoin Mining

4.5: Exercise: Try a Mining Simulator

4.6: Merkle Trees

Study Session Review Video

Unit 4 Assessment

Unit 5: Bitcoin Data

5.1: How Bitcoin Transmits Data on the Network

5.2: Bitcoin Addresses and Keys

5.3: Hex Encoding

5.4: How Bitcoin Stores Data in the Block Structure

5.5: Exercise: View Block Data

5.6: Exercise: Convert Data between Decimal, Base58, and Hex

Study Session Review Video

Unit 5 Assessment

Unit 6: Bitcoin Nodes and Wallets

6.1: What a Node Does

6.2: Who Runs a Node and Why?

6.3: Exercise: Set Up a Regtest Node

6.4: The Functions of a Bitcoin Wallet

6.5: Exercise: View Your Node Wallet Data

Study Session Review Video

Unit 6 Assessment

Unit 7: Transactions and Scripting

7.1: What's in a Transaction?

7.2: The Transaction Timeline

7.3: Transaction Scripting

7.4: Exercise: Bitcoin Scripting

Study Session Review Video

Unit 7 Assessment

Unit 8: Reaching Consensus

8.1: Elements of Valid Transactions

8.2: The Mining Process

8.3: Consensus

8.4: Updating Consensus

8.5: Exercise: Create a Valid Transaction via Your Testnet Node

Study Session Video Review

Unit 8 Assessment

Study Guide

Course Feedback Survey

Certificate Final Exam